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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Productive Insomniac

So I'm recovering from sinus surgery, and it's actually going really well. I had my first post-op appointment yesterday and got really good feedback. But I've been on steroids for two weeks, and still have a week and a half left, and they've given me some serious insomnia. Good news? I have been amazed at what I can get done in the six hours I have all to myself after my family goes to bed!

Initially I had to stay leaned back in my recliner, inable to do anything, so I spent lots of time on Pinterest. Now that I'm mobile again and have all this "energy" I have to do something with it! Enter my Classroom Pinterest board. I've been recreating all of the fabulous stuff I found during Stage 1 of my recuperation. This first picture is my inspiration from Jill Scott's totaly awesome blog, Controlling my Chaos (controllingmychaos.com). Jill Scott is my new ISBFF's (internet stranger bff) and she is AH-Mazing!! You should totally check her out. She made this pen bouquet to keep in her kitchen so her family would stop running off with her pens.



I decided this would be perfect for my classroom! So I grabbed some buckets from the Target Dollar Spot, some flowers from Dollar Tree, and some great northern beans and floral tape, and I went to work. But remember, I'm hyped up on steroids, so one bucket wasn't enough. I made one for each of my team teachers, one for each of the ladies in the office, one for my mom for her kitchen counter, and one for my sister to put on her desk when she goes to college next month! 90 flower pens in all. Was that too much?


Another bit of inspiration came through Pinterest from Caroline at Tupelo Honey (http://tupelohoneycaro.blogspot.com/ ). She posted a letter to her students that I totally fell in love with! Here's her letter:

Dear students - what a great idea!

And here's my version:


The other sign is from this bit of Pinterest inspiration that I can't find an original post for... the specific printable in this picture is from the Sweet Blessings blog (swtblessings.com).

Wonderful classroom reminder

I also printed these off and mounted them to foam core. I used patterned tape to "frame" them.

   

The first printable is also from Sweet Blessings, and the second is from technologyrocksseriously.com

And my most recent project, and current favorite, comes again from Jill at Controlling My Chaos. She made these awesome book covers for her teacher's editions out of Duck Tape.



I only have my literature book at home with me right now, but it's covered now! And I had enough left (and loved it so much) that I covered my grade/lesson plan book too! I'm SO pleased with how they turned out!

I also picked up a couple of tin signs from Walmart for 97 cents each and sprayed painted them, then painted some quotes on them. I'm also a member of my local freecycle group (if you don't know about this, it's basically like the "free" and "wanted" sections of craigslist) and through it I got about 20 scrabble tiles that I made into magnets. (Sorry the picture is sideways!)





And, of course, I had to take a break from teacher stuff for a bit, so I gave myself a mani-pedi. Cherry red toes, and I think these nails are perfect for an English teacher! What do you think?